DEARBORN — When Dr. Stan Jensen started his tenure as the president of Henry Ford College two years ago, the school had enough cash to cover operational costs for a few months only. But the new president helped lead the school through the bleak economic times and raise its educational and administrative standards. 

Jensen’s philosophy is to use data, research and planning to make the school better in the long run; hence, HFC’s new motto— Future Driven.

HFC, formerly Henry Ford Community College, acquired its new name in May of last year.

The college has had four different names since it was established in 1938— Fordson Junior College, Dearborn Junior College, Henry Ford Community College and now Henry Ford College.

Jensen said the rebranding campaign helps the college serve more students and highlights its four-year programs and partnership with neighboring universities.

Starting next winter, the school will start its first bachelor’s degree program. HFC has also established a university center, which allows students to finish three years of education at the Dearborn campus, which count toward their B.A.s from partner universities, including Wayne State, Madonna and Sienna Heights.

According to Jensen, HFC is in the process of acquiring a national accreditation for a four-year culinary arts program, which should be ready by January. The college might also start a bachelor’s program in computer technology. 

HFC also aims to convince the state legislature to allow community colleges to offer bachelor’s in nursing and other healthcare-related fields.

Although “community” is no longer in HFC’s name, Jensen said the college’s center of attention remains the community.

“We are still focused on our community,” he said. “That hasn’t changed. In fact it has increased. We treasure our community here in Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and the greater Detroit area.”

Jensen, who went to college in Grand Rapids, received a PhD from the University of Iowa. Prior to taking the job at HFC, he was the president of Colorado Mountain College. His efforts in Michigan were recognized less than two years after his arrival, as he received the 2015 Business Leader of the Year Award from the Dearborn Area Chamber of Commerce.

He sits on the board of several community organizations, including the Lebanese American Heritage Club.

Financial turnaround

Jensen said after he took the job in April of 2013, a financial analysis showed that the college was going to run out of cash in July. Now, the school has a balanced budget for the 2015-2016 school year, with a healthy cash balance of $18 million. 

“We had to do a lot of things to turn that around,” he said. “We implemented a number of strategies to help stabilize our finances. In the last two years, we’ve seen a $25 million turnaround.” 

Jensen said the college built 28 process improvement teams, which helped save money. The teams work on strategies to make the school more efficient.

The HFC president said a team that reformed the process of giving back financial aid money to students saved the school about $100,000 a year.

“We also weren’t answering the phone well when I got here,” Jensen said. “Now, we have one of the best call centers in the state.”

Jensen added that departments that deal with students are more coherent now; transcripts are delivered faster; lines are shorter and requests are answered more quickly.

One of the problems that HFC faced was students dropping out after receiving federal student aid. The college has to cover the grant money if students drop their classes. According to Jensen, the college owed about $11 million in bad debt from students who dropped their classes; now the amount is less than $3 million. 

“Some students don’t plan on this,” he said. “Life happens and they get sick and don’t complete their classes; and we get stuck with the bad debt. But what was happening was that a number of students were signing up just to get the Pell Grant. Once they get it, they wouldn’t come to class anymore. We had to often pay that back.”

He said some students would apply to several colleges to receive multiple grants before dropping their classes. HFC is now comparing its enrollment with other schools to detect fraud. The school is also requiring documentation to make sure that applicants are qualified to be in college. At the same time, the college is upping its efforts to recruit and retain students. 

Infrastructure improvements

For efficiency, the college has badged all of its buildings alphabetically. Parking remains a priority to students and Jensen said HFC has enlarged and maintained its parking 

structures. 

He added that students might have to park away from their buildings and do some extra walking, but free, paved parking lots are available.

“Everyone wants to park at the front door and walk 20 steps to the classroom; and that we cannot guarantee,” he said. “Walk a little bit.”

Jensen said he would like to see bicycle-sharing stations between HFC, the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Fairlane Mall. He also wishes to have sidewalks on Evergreen.

“But it’s a county road,” he said. “We are trying to work with Wayne County about that. There’s no sidewalk and I really don’t like that. It breaks my heart to see students walking on the snow in the winter time. It is a safety issue.”

The college, which has about 14,000 full-time students, is the third largest community college in the state. 

Diversity

According to Jensen, the student body at HFC is about one-third African American, one-third Arab American and one-third White, with several other ethnic and religious groups on campus. 

“It is very diverse,” he said. “Some people talk about diversity, but they might be talking about 5 or 6 percent minority students.”

He added that the college has a safe environment where diversity can flourish without tensions. 

Jensen said students who feel intimidated are encouraged to report anything to the administration, which is always responsive.

He said he had heard of reports of verbal Sunni-Shi’a feuds on campus, “but the faculty always take care of it.”

He also said Arab and Muslim students and staff are a “terrific” part of the school’s diversity.

“We make sure that if anybody feels threatened knows clearly how to report that,” he said.

However, Jensen added that the department that takes care of such reports in not overly busy because of the harmony and culture of dialogue on campus.

“We want to employ more and more Arab Americans and more and more African Americans,” Jensen said. “The philosophy is to always employ the best person, no matter what. We have recently made some great gains in hiring all of those categories.”